Body modification encompasses any procedure that permanently changes the outward appearance of a body part and is an ancient art and practice. Body modification includes such things as tattoos, piercings and stretching, or gauging. The arts of tattooing and piercings have advanced greatly in recent years as methods and procedures have increased hygiene and stigma associated with such modifications have lessened. However, the practice of gauging is still rather primitive. The procedure dates from ancient times where a piercing, usually in the lips or ears, is gradually made larger so as to accommodate a disk or plug. Ideally, this practice takes time as a series of gradually larger plugs is placed in the piercing. This places an amount of stress on the surrounding body tissue and forces cellular growth in a manner to accommodate the plug. The process is repeated until the desired hole size is achieved.
In modern times, gauging is accomplished through using the use of a series of elongate tapers, which have a point at one size, or gauge, and a shaft of a larger gauge, and a transition between the two. In practice, the tip of the taper is positioned in the hole and the taper is forced through until the main shaft is in the hole. The taper is then left in the hole for a period of about 2 weeks and the procedure repeated as desired with larger tapers. Gauging is relatively safe when performed by a skilled practitioner. It does, however, have some risk of tearing the flesh around the hole, pain, and other complications. These risks are compounded when the process is performed by untrained individuals on themselves and friends. The process also leaves the individual with a relatively large taper in their ear, lip or other body part until the stretch is completed. This can cause a drastic change in lifestyle as the taper projects out from the hole and may catch other objects, causing further risk of injury to the gauged body part.
The present invention is a plug, insertable in a hole, which expands under spring pressure so as to gradually increase the size of the hole. By applying gentle pressure over time, the risks of tearing and trauma are drastically reduced. The plug will also present less of a profile outside the hole, thus reducing the lifestyle interference created by tapers
The present invention represents a departure from the prior art in that the self-expanding dilation plug of the present invention allows for the gentle stretching of a body part without much of the trauma and difficulty associated with current gauging practices.